Plans for Prague’s Rohanský ostrov include a park on a new island

Several projects by different developers have been announced for Rohanský ostrov, an area at the edge of Prague’s trendy Karlín district. The new neighborhood will have parks, apartment buildings and offices — and a new island. So far though. It has been difficult to visualize the extent of the combined plans from different public and private sources.

The future
appearance of Rohanský ostrov can be seen in an exhibition called
Rohanský ostrov: nový Karlín? (Rohan Island: New Karlín?) at the
Center of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAMP). The exhibition runs
until December 20. It includes a 1:1000 scale model of the new
district, several projected videos with English translation available
via headphones, and a large interactive screen with sketches and
details of all the different projects.

On the interactive
touch screen, visitors will learn, among other things, how to deal
with parking, how many new trees are in the streets, and where a
school, coastal promenade and cycle route will be. A large free
pamphlet also has details in English and maps.

Videos on CAMP’s 24-meter-wide projection screen attempt to capture the impacts and benefits with detailed data analysis.

“We will show the planned transformation of Rohanský ostrov in CAMP from several angles. We will describe the planned development, where more than 1,000 new apartments will be built, show a place for one of the largest parks in Prague right by the river or a place for a new footbridge. All this in the context of the surrounding urban development,” Ondřej Boháč, director of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR Praha) said.

Rohanský ostrov is
located on the right bank of the Vltava river joining Karlín and
Libeň, and across the river from Holešovice. Currently this former
port and warehouse is a rather forgotten part of Prague. Historically
the area was an island but the stream separating it from the rest of
Karlín has long been filled in. As part of the project, an island
will be re-created.

The development of
the area planned for the next 20 years will bring not only the
construction of new apartments, but also a coastal promenade with a
cycle path, a footbridge to Holešovice and one of the largest parks
in the city on the Vltava banks.

Rohanský ostrov has
an area of 44 hectares, or 10 times the size of Wenceslas Square.
More than half of this area will be built on. In accordance with the
valid zoning plan it is possible to build 1,750 new flats for about
4,000 people. Another 5,000 people will commute to the new
neighborhood for work. In terms of height and volume, the new
buildings will be connected to the current development in Karlín and
its surroundings, according to a CAMP press release.

After more than 100
years, the area will return to its original appearance thanks to the
construction of a new river channel, which will be part of Prague’s
flood control measures. Rohanský Park, which is the main public
investment in the area, will be built on the entire territory of the
new physical island, with over 100,000 square meters.

“The conversion of such a large site will not happen overnight, but will take place in several stages. The first one will begin next year, with the realization of the new park. The main part of the housing development will take place from 2030 to 2040,” Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček (United Force for Prague) said.